The Tinkerer’s Apprentice

The Tinkerer is about to open his fix-it shop when suddenly the Hobgoblin comes bursting in through the front door. Following the fall of Shadowland, the villain needs new equipment because Spider-Man is after him. The Tinkerer assures him that he will have his best man to work on it and sends him off. What the Hobgoblin doesn’t know is that the Tinkerer’s new assistant is Tiberius Stone, who has a bone to pick with the Hobgoblin and looks forward to giving him his comeuppance.[1]

In Hell’s Kitchen, Spider-Man and his Spiderlings are going through the rubble of Shadowland to find the remains of the Kingpin. Present are NYPD officers Carlie Cooper and Yuri Watanabe. Carlie pulls Spider-Man aside to ask where he got the money to pay for his new private militia and equipment.[2] He assures her that he is getting money from the mayor’s office, something that Carlie finds hard to believe since mayor J. Jonah Jameson is such a skinflint. That’s when one of the investigators finds what appears to be the body of the Kingpin, prompting Spider-Man to take off and see it for himself. Conferring with Yuri, Carlie is convinced that Spider-Man is getting money from illicit means and suggest they investigate. Watanabe agrees and decides that it is time for her alter-ego, the Wraith, to come out of retirement.

While at the Daily Bugle, Phil Urich has arrived with footage of Spider-Man’s attack on Shadowland. Norah Winters is very impressed and immediately begins writing the story. Joe Robertson is also impressed with Phil’s work, but all Urich is concerned about is how much he is getting paid. Returning home with the cheque given to him by the Bugle, Phil figures it’s enough to pay for the Tinkerer’s work but is concerned about how he will afford his criminal operations. That’s with Roderick Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin, contacts him to tell him his franchise payment is late.[3] When Phil explains his money problems, Kingsley points out that he is a super-villain and if he needs money so badly he should go rob a couple of banks.

Phil takes this advice and finds that robbing banks is surprisingly easy. This is because Spider-Man’s spider-bots do not register his activities. Spider-Man ends up finding out about these robberies when it is too late to stop him, leaving him to wonder why his spider-bots are failing to alert him of the crimes while they are in progress.[4]

As Spider-Man focuses on catching the Hobgoblin, he begins neglecting the life of Peter Parker. May Parker begins to notice that her nephew hasn’t been around in a while and figures that he has been busy. Mary Jane, meanwhile, is furious that Peter hasn’t called her since her nightclub was last attacked. While at Horizon Labs, Max Modell notices that Peter has missed the third meeting in a row. His husband, Hector Beaz figures that Parker doesn’t care about Horizon Lab’s current problems. While at Empire State University, Anna Maria Marconi has to give excuses to their teacher, Doctor Donald Lamaze, to explain Parker’s absences.

By this time, Otto is at his new headquarters, Spider-Island Two, wondering how Peter Parker managed to juggle his heroics with his personal life and begins to consider abandoning the life of Peter Parker. That’s when he gets a call from Anna Maria who wants to know where he has been recently.

Meanwhile, the Hobgoblin’s crime spree has not gone unnoticed. The Goblin King is informed of what’s going on and is not pleased that the Hobgoblin stumbled upon the flaw in Spider-Man’s system as it will draw the wall-crawler to it. Changing into his costume, the Goblin King tells his minion to order his men to lay low while he shuts down the goblin-protocol to see how the Hobgoblin manages with Spider-Man back on his trail.[5]

At Empire State University, Anna Maria has managed to convince “Peter Parker” to meet with Dr. Lamaze and the school chancellor to talk about his absences. Otto bites his tongue and compliments Lamaze’s teaching and after being informed he will be getting a full credit, he is reminded that he still has to submit his thesis. As they leave, Otto thanks Anna Maria for accompanying her and that’s when she reveals that she stole his cell phone before the meeting so a call from Spider-Man wouldn’t interrupt things. She hands it back, telling him it’s been buzzing for two minutes and tells her that she did it because she is concerned about their future together. Otto is impressed and touched by what she has said and says they will have to talk about things more thoroughly after he gets back from his business with Spider-Man.

At that moment, the Hobgoblin has hit another bank and figures that with this stolen loot and the money he is making selling footage to the Bugle, he’ll have enough money to clear his debts. However, he is unaware that he is being observed by Tiberius Stone, who is waiting for the right moment to get his final revenge. That’s when Spider-Man finally arrives to attack the Goblin. Spider-Man demands to know how the Hobgoblin has been able to evade detection from his spider-bots, but the Hobgoblin only wants to fight. Unfortunately for him, when he tries to use his weapons, he discovers they no longer work. This is because Stone has deactivated them. Spider-Man manages to slash the Hobgoblin with his talons before he can flee.

When Spider-Man eventually catches up he discovers that the Hobgoblin had doffed his costume and escaped into a building. Hoping he managed to implant his nano-spider-tracers on his foe, Spider-Man begins scanning the crowd on the street below for any trace of the Hobgoblin.

In a panic, Phil Urich races to the Daily Bugle where he tries to convince Joe Robertson to cut him an advance on his next batch of video. Unaware that the spider-tracers are transmitting audio back to Spider-Man, Urich is unaware that Spider-Man now knows his name and is now initiating plan Octavius Omega One. Suddenly, Spider-Man hijacks every video stream in the city. He asks the public for his help capturing the Hobgoblin and reveals to everyone that the Goblin’s true identity is Phil Urich. This revelation also is broadcast on the computers at the Daily Bugle, shocking everyone on staff.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Hobgoblin, Tinkerer, Tiberius Stone, Carlie Cooper, Wraith, Joe Robertson, Norah Winters, Ben Urich, Anna Maria Marconi, Don Lamaze, Roderick Kingsley, Max Modell Hector Beaz, Grady Scraps, Bella Fishbach, Aunt May, Mary Jane Watson, Goblin King

Continuity Notes

1. Tiberius Stone worked for the Kingpin as a mole for Horizon Labs. He was often threatened by the Hobgoblin since they both entered the Kingpin’s employ circa Amazing Spider-Man #649. More recently, Stone was fired after Max Modell discovered his connections to the Kingpin in Amazing Spider-Man #697.

2. Carlie has been suspicious of Spider-Man ever since Amazing Spider-Man #700. After Otto Octavius swapped bodies with Peter Parker, she encountered a dying Doctor Octopus claiming to be Spider-Man. Carlie began ramping up a serious investigation since Superior Spider-Man #3, after witnessing Spider-Man brutalizing a number of villains.

3. Kingsley has been licensing out super-villain identities since Amazing Spider-Man #697.

4. Unknown to either Spider-Man or the Hobgoblin, the spider-bots were hacked by the Green Goblin to ignore anyone with a Goblin Nation tattoo or wearing a goblin mask back in Superior Spider-Man #10.

5. The identity of the Goblin King is obscured here, even paying homage to Amazing Spider-Man #14. It suggests that someone else is operating as the Green Goblin here, however, it’s still Norman Osborn — as usual — as we’ll learn in Superior Spider-Man #31.